EVER since Raúl Castro replaced his ailing brother, Fidel, as Cuba’s president in 2008, he has made clear that his overriding aim is to organise an orderly political and economic transition to ensure that the ruling Communist Party remains in power after both men die. Progress towards that goal has been painstakingly slow, and sometimes crablike. But another step was taken at the opening of a newly installed National Assembly on February 24th, when Raúl began a second presidential term. Not only did he repeat that it would be his last. He also hailed the appointment as first vice-president of Miguel Díaz- Canel, a former higher-education minister, saying this represented “a defining step in the configuration of the country’s future leadership”.
劳尔·卡斯特罗（Raúl Castro）于2008年接替患病的哥哥菲德尔·卡斯特罗（Fidel），成为古巴总统。自那之后，他就明确表明自己任上的头等大事，便是组织古巴有序地进行政治、经济过渡，以保证在他们两兄弟逝世之后，现有执政党（共产党）仍能保持其领导地位。然而相关进展却十分艰难、速度缓慢，有的时候发展原地踏步，堪比蟹行。但就在2月24日新一届国民大会开幕之际、劳尔开始其第二任期之时，这一过渡又有了新的进展。他不仅重申了这将是他的最后一届总统任期，还向被任命为副总统的前高等教育部长米格尔·迪亚斯-卡内尔（Miguel Díaz- Canel）表示祝贺，称这一任命代表着“国家未来领导层格局中决定性的一步”。
“Who’s he?” was how one Havana resident greeted the news. Mr Díaz-Canel may not be exactly a household name in Cuba but he has been tipped for the top for several years. He has stood in for Raúl on a couple of recent foreign visits. Aged 52, his elevation means that the Castros, both of whom are in their 80s, are at last passing the baton to a generation born after the 1959 revolution. (Fidel gave a short speech at the assembly, in a rare public appearance which could be read as giving his blessing to the new appointment.)
“这位新副总统是谁？”听到这一消息之后，一位哈瓦那（Havana）市民不禁如此问道。准确来说，迪亚斯-卡内尔在古巴可能并没有那么家喻户晓，但最近几年来人们纷纷猜测他可能会被提拔为高层领导。最近，他代替劳尔进行了一些外事访问。米格尔·迪亚斯今年52岁，他的提升意味着，已是耄耋之年的卡斯特罗兄弟，终于将权利交接棒递给了1959年革命后出生的一代人（菲德尔罕见地出席了当天大会，并做了简短讲话，这可以被看作是他对米格尔·迪亚斯晋升的祝福）。
Mr Díaz-Canel is an electrical engineer who spent 15 years as a provincial party secretary before becoming a minister and, last year, vice-president of the Council of Ministers. He is unexpressive in public, but is said to be affable and accessible, with a quick wit and sharp mind. Until fairly recently he wore his hair long, another reminder of the fact that he is a child of the 1960s, not the 1930s. He is known to be a fan of the Beatles, an enthusiasm once frowned upon by the regime.
迪亚斯-卡内尔是一名电子工程师，曾担任省委书记达15年，随后成为一名部长，最后去年晋升为部长委员会副总统。他在公共场合以冷静形象示人，但是据说才思敏捷，并且与人和善。直到最近之前，他都留着一头长发，这再一次提醒我们他是20世纪60年代（而非30年代）后出生的一代人。他对披头士的热爱众所周知，尽管古巴政府曾一度不太满意这点。
Whereas Fidel liked to surround himself with young acolytes, Raúl has long shown that he values the practical experience of provincial party officials, to whom he has devolved some powers. Another rising star, Mercedes López Acea, the Havana party secretary, was promoted to the rank of vice-president as well.
尽管菲德尔喜欢身边围绕着年轻的下属，长期以来，劳尔都不掩饰自己对省委官员实践经验的重视，并将权力下放给他们。另一位政治新星——哈瓦那党委书记梅赛德斯·洛佩斯（Mercedes López Acea）也被提升为副总统。
As higher-education minister Mr Díaz-Canel expanded a scheme under which Cubans taught students from Venezuela, Cuba’s chief benefactor. He forged close ties with Venezuela’s leaders, including Nicolás Maduro, the de facto president. With Mr Chávez seemingly dying of cancer, it is vital for Cuba’s leaders that Mr Maduro should succeed him and continue to provide subsidised oil.
身为高等教育部长，迪亚斯-卡内尔拓展了一个让委内瑞拉（古巴主要捐助国）学生在古巴接受教育的计划，他与现在实际负责总统职责的尼古拉斯·马杜罗（Nicolás Maduro）等委内瑞拉领导人保持亲密关系。现任总统查韦斯（Chávez）似乎要被癌症夺去生命，因此，马杜罗继任委内瑞拉总统并继续向古巴提供补贴石油，对于古巴领导人来说十分重要。
Raúl once praised Mr Díaz-Canel for his “ideological firmness”. The new man’s private views are unclear. In the 1990s he was linked to a group of communist reformers that surrounded the then foreign minister, Roberto Robaina, who openly argued for economic liberalisation in Cuba.
劳尔曾经赞扬迪亚斯-卡内尔有“坚定的意识形态”，不过这位政坛新星的个人观点尚不明晰。上个世纪90年代，他与一个古共改革派关系密切，该组织核心人物罗伯托·罗瓦伊纳（Roberto Robaina）时任外交部长，他曾公开支持古巴经济开放。
Raúl Castro has allowed Cubans to buy cars and homes, to lease farmland and to set up small businesses. Last year he scrapped curbs on foreign travel. As a result, this month Yoani Sánchez, a blogger and opponent of the regime, has been able to visit Brazil—though she has faced protests organised by the Cuban Embassy in Brasília and members of Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party.
劳尔·卡斯特罗允许古巴人民购买汽车和住房，允许农田租借，支持小型企业发展。去年，他还放宽了国人出国旅游的种种限制。因此，政权的反对者——微博用户Yoani Sánchez本月得以到巴西旅游，尽管她曾受到古巴驻巴西利亚大使馆和巴西执政党（工党）成员所提出的抗议。
There are signs that Raúl is running out of reformist steam. His tone in his speech to the assembly seemed at times almost resigned. “I was not chosen to be president to restore capitalism to Cuba” he stressed (Mr Díaz-Canel nodded in agreement). He announced no new economic reforms. It will be Mr Díaz-Canel’s job to get to grips with the “issues of greater scope, complexity and depth” that Raúl said the government was grappling with. First among these is allowing private wholesale markets.
有迹象表明，劳尔身上的改革主义色彩越来越淡。他在大会上的发言腔调有时听上去似乎对现状听之任之。“古巴人民不是为了恢复资本主义才选我做总统。”他强调说（迪亚斯-卡内尔点头表示同意）。他没有宣布新的经济改革措施。劳尔曾经说过政府正着力解决的“广度、复杂程度和深度等更加宏伟的事情”，将会在迪亚斯-卡内尔任上得到认真对待。其中首当其冲的便是允许私有批发市场的发展。
Various putative dauphins were raised up by Fidel only to fall from grace, accused of corruption or of excessive ambition. One of them was Mr Robaina, sacked in 1999. He now spends his days painting and running a restaurant in Miramar, an elegant district of Havana. Mr Díaz-Canel is presumably aware of the risks involved in his elevation. But this time it looks as if the chosen successor may be the one who actually succeeds.
菲德尔培养了许多候选接班人，因为腐败问题或者野心过大，都纷纷落马，其中之一便是1999年被撤职的罗瓦伊纳（Robaina）【注】，他现在就成天画画东西、经营一家米拉玛（位于哈瓦那的一个品位高的地区）的餐馆。迪亚斯-卡内尔大概对他本人升职所蕴含的风险有所了解，但这一次挑选出来的接班人可能真的就是接班人了。
